6 ways to show your car you love it

Now that the warm weather is (finally) in full force, take a Saturday morning or two and give your car the TLC it craves. Winter definitely takes a toll on your car, but who wants to deal in the dead of winter? Now’s the time and here’s the list, along with some fun new stuff to try.

Wash it
Royal Purple manufactures high performance lubricants for most automotive, industrial, marine, motorcycle and racing applications. Their latest product, Max-Clean, is touted as an easy way to keep a car’s engine clean, which increases longevity and maintains fuel efficiency.
The Max-Clean additive is poured into your gas tank at the gas station before you fill up your tank. Thereafter, Max-Clean claims, it clean the injectors, which improves engine power and restores fuel economy, along with reducing tailpipe emissions. Royal Purple’s formulation targets both the intake system and combustion chamber, utilizing a unique detergent and carrier technology tailored to? direct-injected, turbocharged engines, while still providing the same benefits to conventionally fuel-injected engines.

After conducting multiple product fleet tests on various makes and models of vehicles, Royal Purple claims that after as little as one treatment, Max-Clean can:

?Restore lost horsepower an average of 2.6 per cent

Prevent rough idle, hesitation and stalling

Achieve complete combustion with lower octane fuel

Prevent premature spark plug fouling

Reduce deposit-related engine knocking and pinging

In the real world, we at Evergeek used Royal Purple on two of our cars and we did, in fact, notice that it made a difference. We were averaging around 28 mpg in one of our cars, and after using Max-Clean, we saw the efficiency computer jump to 29 mpg? over a week of driving. Not huge in the grand scheme of things, but equating savings that meant it paid for itself almost right away.

According to the 2011 DuPont Automotive Colour Popularity Report, white, grey and black cars account for 70 per cent of the vehicles on the road today. So it should come as no surprise that Meguiar’s has developed two new products for that demographic, aptly called White Wax and Black Wax. Each is designed to tackle specific problems facing light and dark paints and maximize the brilliance and gloss results we all crave from our car paint.

Using new Super Micro Abrasives Technology (SMAT), Meguiar’s created White Wax to deep clean surfaces and bring out the brilliance in light-coloured paint. It works by removing dirt and grime from the surface, leaving behind a layer of paint protection filled with carnauba and polymers for long-lasting care.

For owners of dark-to-black coloured vehicles, Meguiar’s Black Wax claims to create an exceptional gloss and polished look. With no dyes or colorants added to the formula, this wax cleans, polishes and protects the paint, giving owners the “wet” look only darker cars can achieve.

We at Evergeek tried both products. To use each one, we simply dispensed a small amount onto the foam applicator that comes with it and applied it to the surface of our washed car. Then we wiped it dry with a microfibre cloth towel.

Check it

Now’s as good a time as any to check the battery charge, ensuring it is operating in tip-top shape during warmer months. You could wait until winter, of course, f you have a particular fondness for misery and cold fingers. Battery terminals and other connections should be inspected for signs of corrosion. Built-up deposits can adversely affect a car’s ignition system, and, more obviously, prevent the engine from starting.

Inflate it

Properly rotated and inflated tires allow drivers to brake more quickly, handle better, avoid danger on the road and get better fuel mileage. It’s generally recommended that you rotate tires per the manufacturer’s suggested interval, usually 5,000 to 10,000 miles depending on wear and driving habits.

Additionally, it’s also important to regularly inspect each tire to make sure its pressure is within the manufacturer’s guideline. Drivers can find the recommended pressure specification on the inside of the driver’s side doorsill and inside the vehicle owner’s manual.

Change it
Clean filters and oil help a car’s engine move and breathe easier, which maintains engine performance, efficiency and longevity. Again, the owner’s manual will recommend change frequency as well as oil type.

Speaking of filters, also inspect your in-cabin air filter. When cold weather gives way to the warmer temperatures of spring, blooming flowers create additional pollen in the air. Regularly inspecting and replacing the in-cabin air filter can help prevent seasonal allergies and irritating odors emanating from the air conditioning system all summer long.

A/C Pro is a fast way to “recharge” your air conditioning system. It’s a new product designed to recharge under-performing air conditioning systems in vehicles with R134a refrigerant, and is a do-it-yourself alternative to costly auto-repair shops, which typically charge around $200 to recharge an A/C system.

A/C Pro costs a fraction of that ($30 – $40) and can be done in 10 to 15 minutes following a few simple steps and doesn’t (usually) require any special tools